Shoe



E. F. ROBERTS DMN 13,v 1938.-

Filed July 18, 1936 E /ff/W ATTORNEY.

INVENTOR. WW/Ma BY Patented Dec. 13, 1938 UNITED A STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOE Jersey Application July 1s, 1936, serial No. 91,417

1 Claim.

This invention relates to shoes and more particularly to ladies or misses low shoes of the step-in or pump type.

' Such low shoes depend largely upon the pres- 5 sure they exert across the top fore part of the foot to retain the shoe snugly in place upon the foot and to prevent the shoe from sliding up and down at the heel. As a result, most shoes of the step-in or pump type either exert an uncomfortable bind.- ing pressure across .the top of the foot, or t the foot so loosely that the shoe tends to bulge at the sides of the foot and slide up and down on the heel.

It has been proposed heretofore to provide elastic inserts or gores in various parts Aof shoes to impart elastic properties to such portions of the shoes but such attempts heretofore have not been entirely satisfactory. One difficulty with such proposed prior constructions has been due to the fact that if the elastic insert exerts a strong contractive force, this contractive pressure upon the foot is uncomfortable, and if the elastic insert does not exert a strong contractive force it willl stretch too freely under the movements of the foot in the shoe.

Another difficulty experienced heretofore in using elastic inserts and gores'in shoes has been due, to the fact that if the elastic insert orgore extends to the upper edge of the shoe no Way was known of imparting a neat, durable and satisfactory finish to such elastic upper edge without interfering withthe stretch of such elastic insert at this upper edge.

'Ihe present invention seeks to overcome these difficulties and one important feature of the invention resides in a construction for rendering elastic a small area at the throat of the shoe to thereby relieve the binding pressure of this portion of the shoe upon the foot, without providing to lie close to the sides of the foot.

The above and other features of the invention will be more fully understood from the following 55 description when read in connection with the a sufficiently large elastic area to permit this .por-

of the shoe and cause the upper edge vof the shoe (c1. afs- 5.1)

accompanying drawing illustrating good practical forms thereof, and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a ladies pump embodying the features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the shoe of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is anfenlarged section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a similar section taken on the lines 4-4 of Fig. 1;,and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a relative high stepin type of shoe embodying the features of the present invention.

Referring rst to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, the shoe here shown isa pump, which for the most part may be of Well known construction, and comprises the shoe sole Ill, heel II and upper I2, and the upper may have its outer material formed of leather or cloth as heretofore.

In order to render a portion of the shoe at the throat area elastic so as to relieve the uncomfortable or binding pressure which pumps frequently exert across the top of the foot, this throat area is formed of fine closely woven elastic fabric I3 which fabric is preferably so constructed that it will require a relatively strong pull to stretch the same. The fabric I3 may be formed of inelastic yarn, and elastic yarn such as disclosed in the Adamson Patent No. 1,822,847 granted September 8, 1931, and the elastic yarn may constitute either the Warp or the weft and is tightly interwoven with the non-elastic yarn to provide a strong, one-way stretch fabric. This elastic fabric is preferably so positioned in the shoe that the elastic yarns Il extend crossWise ofthe shoe, that is at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the shoe as shown. The shoe of Fig 1 may have its throat area rendered elastic by simply cutting away the portion of the shoe upper I2 adjacent the throat of the shoe and securing in place thereofthe woven elastic fabric I3 which may be sewed to the shoe upper I2 by the row of stitching I5.

The size and shape of the elastic area I3 may obviously be varied as desired but this area is preferably relatively small to thereby prevent this portion of the shoe from being stretched more than a small amount from the finished shape which is to be imparted to the shoe. This small elastic area I3 will serve to relieve the uncomfortable pressure at the throat of the shoe upon the foot and will also increase the snug. fit of the shoe to thereby improve its appearance and prevent the shoe from slipping up and down upon the heel of the wearer.

, I1; is important, to provide the elastic fabric I3 at its upper edge with a smooth rounded bead may be formed in accordance with the disclo. s ure of the Adamson patent above referred to.'

The binding I6 is secured to the upper edge of the elastic fabric I3 so asV to fo'rm a rounded finishing bead. This is accomplished by turning .in one edge of the binding I6 and securing this edge to the outer face of the fabric I3 near the upper edge thereof by a' row of stitching I8 so that this edge of the binding is concealed at the outer face of the shoe, as will be apparent from Fig. 3. The remaining portion of the binding I6 is turned over the'upper edge of the elastic fabric I3 to form the desired beaded edge and is secured in place against the inner face of the fabric I3 by a second row of stitches I9.

It is found desirable to provide this `elastic finishing bead not only along the upper edge of the elastic fabric I3 but also along the upper edge of the entire or substantially entire footreceiVing opening of the shoe. The elastic binding I6 is therefore shown in Figs. 1 and 2 as extending entirely around the foot-receiving opening. 4The manner in which the binding I 6 is secured tothe upper edge of the non-elastic portion of the shoe will be apparent from Fig. 4 wherein the turned-in edge of the4 binding I6 is secured against the outer face of the shoe I2 by the row of stitches I8. The inner face of the leather or other material I2 forming the outer portion of the shoe upper is shown asprovided along this upper inner edge with the usual nonelastic strengthening tape 2Il which is adhesively over the upper edge of theouter material I2 of' the shoe, its remaining edge may be confined between the tape 20 and inner lining 2| as shown and may be secured in placetherebetween by the row of stitches I9.

The binding I6 is formed of fine elastic web- 55 blng which-will stretch easily and is preferably secured in place along the upper edge of the shoe under' slight tension so that it will exert a slight contractive force around the foot-receiving opening of the shoe. The effect of this is to tend to decrease the size of this opening slightly. This causes the upper edge of the sh to fit more snugly and serves also to hold the upper edge of the shoe against the sides of the foot to keep the shoe from gapping at the sides.

The features of the present invention are well adapted for use not vonly in pumps but in other types of shoes having a considerably higher throat, such as shown in Fig. 5 which more closely approaches the height of the so-called Oxford shoe. Although the shoe shown in Fig. 5 is comparatively high in the throat it may be slipped on and o the foot without requiring any opening in the throat area due to the stretch permitted by the elastic fabric 22 in this area. This fabric may be constructed of a woven elastic material and secured in the shoe in the manner above described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2. 'I'he entire upper edge of the shoe of Fig. 5 is preferably provided with a finishing bead formed of a narrow strip of an elastic binding I6 the vsame as in Fig. 1.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the elastic webbing 'or binding I6 forms two distinct functions, one being to provide the upper edge of the shoe with a round finishing bead of pleasing appearance, and the other being to exert a contractive force along the edge of the shoe that serves to pull the sides of the shoe in towards the foot to prevent gapping at the sides.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A low shoe of the step-in or pump type adapted to stretch slightly in the throat area, and including in its construction an upper having the throat portion thereof formed of elastic material, the upper edge of the shoe being provided in the elastic throat area and along each side of the shoe with a finishing bead formed of a narrow strip of elastic fabric binding made with rubber threads, one edge of thebinding being rolled under to conceal this edge at the outer face of the shoe and the other edge being secured inside the shoe, said binding being secured to the upper edge of the'shoe under sufficient longitudinal tension to exert a contractive force across the instep and at the sides of the shoe to thereby reduce the tendency of the shoe to gap at the sides of the foot.

EDWARD F. ROBERTS. 

